Steve Kretzmann, Author at Mother City News

Wole Soyinka’s new novel is an exuberant takedown of a corrupt state

23 August 202327 April 2023 by Steve Kretzmann

It is a mighty tome from the great Nigerian writer. Chronicles From The Land Of The Happiest People On Earth is a mire of poetic prose. It is possible to sink in it. Flail about and enjoy the view. Tense doesn’t always seem to make sense, but not often enough to do away with it altogether.… Read more

Obs collective fight eviction

3 June 202426 April 2023 by Steve Kretzmann

The City of Cape Town is seeking an eviction order against the Willow Arts Collective occupying municipal land in Observatory, after they proposed renting the land.
The property was formerly leased to the South African National Circus School whose owner had unlawfully sublet the property.

Unfinished freeway gives way to Foreshore development

3 April 2023 by Steve Kretzmann

Development of Cape Town’s Gateway Precinct linking the Foreshore to Bo-Kaap, De Waterkant and the V&A Waterfront, which includes new housing, can now begin as land along lower Buitengracht Street has been released to the City by the provincial government.

After being held back for more than 40 years due to a road reserve along Buitengracht Street being kept by the provincial government for the unfinished Foreshore freeway, the 11,254 square metres of land was released to the City of Cape Town on 20 January.… Read more

Climate change almost doubles the risk of wildfires in Cape Town, study shows

31 March 2023 by Steve Kretzmann

Fire Weather Index prior to 2021 UCT fire was highest ever recorded during autumn.

A study has found that climate change played a role in the “UCT fire” of 2021 and has significantly increased the chances of such devastating fires occurring in Cape Town.… Read more

Lindenberg’s life at full throttle

23 August 202330 March 2023 by Steve Kretzmann

Motoring and literature may seem uncommon companions, but they do get together quite often, from Tom Wolfe’s classic collection of essays in The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby to Stephen King’s Christine. Jack Kerouac’s On The Road is arguably about cars. and there are plenty of gripping non-fiction novels about drivers, designers, and motoring escapades.… Read more

Things to do in the Mother City: April

31 March 202330 March 2023 by Steve Kretzmann

The days are getting cooler and the rain is coming. At last the night outlasts the day. Time to get off the beach and into the theatre, music hall, pool bar, dive bar, etc. Also, we can wear boots and jackets in comfort again.

February gig guide

6 February 2023 by Steve Kretzmann

It’s Valentine’s Day this month. Just a warning: the moneygrubbers will be out to get you for the sake of lurve. Fuk’em. You’ve got better things to spend your long-awaited January pay cheque on (if you’re lucky enough to get a pay cheque, that is, you 20 percenter, you).

A Moveable Feast: Hemingway gives us the gift of now

6 February 2023 by Steve Kretzmann

Never travel without a book. Fair enough. So it was forgetting to pack a novel that led me to buying Ernest Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast at the airport bookshop before boarding a flight upcountry.

With his love of hunting, game fishing, bull fighting, being wounded in World War I and on the front lines of both the Spanish civil war and World War II as a journalist, as well as having four wives, Hemingway has become synonymous with masculinity, often deemed to be toxic, to the point of being a parody.… Read more

Hansard: edge-of-your-seat repartee

6 February 2023 by Steve Kretzmann

Fiona Ramsay and Graham Hopkins are a racy duo. Phenomenal. Hitting 90 miles an hour around the turns in their repartee. The comebacks and self deprecations fast and furious, going off at tangents and on a camber in transparent bids to avoid the crash of self realisation.… Read more

Sewage on the seashore

14 March 20236 February 2023 by Steve Kretzmann

The City has been proactive about closing beaches following reported sewage spills, but nothing done at other beaches where tests show water is highly polluted

Activists concerned City’s routine coastal water quality testing is little more than a tick-box exercise

Water quality test results from December show numerous beaches were too polluted for safe swimming, but nothing was done by the City despite other beaches having being closed during the holiday season following reported sewage spills.… Read more